This Wild Rice Three Bean Salad is the perfect addition to your next barbecue, party, or cookout! This easy salad is made with three types of beans and topped with a simple, flavorful dressing that sets off all the delicious flavors in this versatile bean salad. We love serving this with some grilled chicken made with our 5-star rated Chicken Marinade and a slice of Key Lime Pie for dessert. The BEST!
It gets hot here in Sacramento. Like, REALLY hot. Like, I want to run a bath of cold water, dump in some ice, and climb in hot. We grill out a lot during the summer just to keep the heat out of the house. That’s why I’m such a big fan of this chicken marinade and steak marinade – we use them A LOT.
Hot nights like this call for an easy, nutritious, and so very delicious salad that I can whip up in a jiffy. This bean salad is a variation of the one my sister Melissa has been making us for years. I am a huge fan of this salad because it takes so few ingredients and most of them can be found in my pantry.
What Beans Should I Use?
This recipe starts with three cans of beans. For this bean salad, I used black, kidney, and garbanzo beans but any combination of beans will work.
I love the quality of canned beans and they are just SOOOO much easier to use than making my own.
Don’t Forget To Rinse!
Please remember to rinse the beans off under cold running water and let drain adequately before adding to the bowl. There is a bunch of stuff (including sodium) in the liquid that we don’t need in this 3 bean salad.
We want the flavor of the beans and the produce to really shine through.
What Goes In Bean Salad?
Besides for the beans, I like to add some bright, fresh flavors including:
- cilantro
- bell pepper
- red onion
- jalapeno
If you feel like it might be too spicy for your family you can either omit the jalapeno or just use half of it. Your call. My family does like things spicy so I use an entire jalapeno for this salad. On a good day, I can find all of these ingredients in my garden and that makes this dinner even better.
Bean Salad Dressing
All the ingredients are tossed together with the wild rice blend and the salad is dressed with a somewhat sweet red wine vinaigrette using some more essential ingredients from my pantry. So simple. So delicious. This easy dressing goes great on lots of different salads, by the way.
- red wine vinegar
- extra virgin olive oil
- sugar
- salt
- fresh ground black pepper
Bean Salad for Dinner
Sure, it’s an absolutely gorgeous side dish that is perfect for almost every meal you could think of but it makes an amazing light vegetarian dinner option as well.
Try this easy recipe the next time it’s just too hot to cook and you’ll be glad you did. Just make sure to keep your pantry fully stocked with cans!
More Awesome Salads To Try
- Strawberry Spinach Salad
- The Best Watergate Salad
- Best Ever Broccoli Salad
- Pineapple Cucumber Salad
- Mojito Fruit Salad
How To Make Bean Salad
Three Bean Wild Rice Salad
Ingredients
- 2 cups cooked wild rice blend cooled
- 15 oz kidney beans rinsed and drained
- 15 oz black beans rinsed and drained
- 15 oz garbanzo beans rinsed and drained
- 1 red bell pepper chopped
- 1/2 red onion diced
- 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
- 1 jalapeno diced
Dressing
- 3 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 4 tbsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
Instructions
- Combine all salad ingredients in a large bowl.
- Combine dressing ingredients in a mason jar and shake until thoroughly combined.
- Toss dressing with salad.
- Refrigerate for an hour for best flavor but this salad can be served immediately.
Video
Nutrition
Originally published June 2015.
More recipes straight from the pantry!
Blueberry Oatmeal Crumble Bars
Baked Cherry Cheesecake French Toast
Chocolate Covered Strawberry Rice Krispies Treats Pinwheels
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This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Albertsons & Safeway. The opinions and text are all mine.
